Vn.v 


a 


The  person  charging  this  material  is  re- 
sponsible for  its  return  to  the  library '  from 
which  it  was  withdrawn  on  or  before  the 
Latest  Date  stamped  below. 

Theff,  mutilation,  and  underlining  of  books 
are  reasons  for  disciplinary  action  and  may 
result  In  dismissal  from  the  University. 
UNIVERSITY   OF    ILLINOIS    LIBRARY   AT  URBANACHAMPAIGN 


L161  — O-1096 


Special  Bulletin  No.  7,  pp.  33-36.  No.  62—11—98—500. 

The  City  Library  Association,  Springfield,  Massachusetts. 
LITERATURE:  ART:  SCIENCE. 


THE  LIBRARY  TRAINING 
CLASS:EXAMINATION:NO- 
VEMBER  30:  1898. 


The  examination  of  applicants  for  admission  to  the  training 
class  of  the  City  Library  of  Springfield  will  be  held  on  Wednesday, 
the  30th  of  November,  1898,  at  9  a.  m.,  in  the  smaller  lecture 
room  of  the  Art  Museum.  The  examination  will  be  written  and 
will  last  about  three  hours.  The  subjects  upon  which  the  appli- 
cants will  be  examined  are  Literature,  Current  Events  and  General 
Information,  the  object  being  to  test  one's  adaptability  to  library 
work.  The  examination  will  be  as  far  as  possible  impersonal. 
The  choice  of  the  successflil  candidates  will  be  determined  chiefly 
by  the  written  examination.  Other  considerations  such  as  health, 
references,  and  previous  experience,  will,  however,  be  given  due 
weight. 

The  class  will  be  limited  to  six  members.  These  six  will 
agree,  on  entering,  to  give  an  average  of  36  hours  a  week  to 
duties  in  the  library  during  the  coming  nine  months.  As  these 
nine  months  will  extend  through  the  summer  of  1 899,  there  is  to 
be  deducted  from  this  time  a  vacation  of  three  weeks,  between  the 
first  of  May  and  the  first  of  September.  Of  the  36  hours  per 
week  at  least  five  hours  are  to  be  given,  during  the  first  six  months, 
to  certain  prescribed  private  study,  in  the  library,  of  books  on 
library  economy  or  literature. 


34 


The  Library  Training  Class. 


The  library,  in  return  for  the  services  rendered  by  members  of 
the  class,  will  see  that  each  member  becomes  as  familiar  as  the 
time  of  apprenticeship  permits  with  library  work  in  all  its  branches. 

Those  who  intend  to  take  the  examination  should  notify  the 
library  of  the  fact  a  day  or  two  beforehand,  if  convenient. 

II. 

The  City  Library  Association  includes  the  following  depart- 
ments :  — 

( 1 )  A  library  of  one  hundred  thousand  volumes,  with 
(a)  A  reference  department,  and 

(i)  A    circulating   department, — on    the   second    and  first 
floors  respectively  of  the  William  Rice  Building. 

(2)  A  reading-room  supplied  with  about  300  periodicals, — 
on  the  first  floor  of  the  same  building. 

(3)  The  George  Walter  Vincent  Smith  Collection  of  works  of 
art,  chiefly  illustrative  of  the  industrial  art  of  all  nations,  the  result  of 
a  life-time  of  tireless  devotion  to  the  search  for  and  purchase  of 
suitable  articles,  beautifully  arranged  and  mounted — in  the  Art 
M.iseum. 

(4)  The  Horace  Smith  Hall  of  Sculpture  ;  about  sixty  care- 
fully selected  reproductions  of  the  sculpture  of  Greece  and  the 
Renaissance,  —  to  be  placed  during  this  winter  in  the  same  build- 
ing. 

(5)  An  Art  Library,  including  several  hundred  finely  illus- 
trated art  books,  selected  from  the  library  proper,  —  in  the  same 
building. 

(6)  Two  Lecture  Rooms,  seating  375  and  100  persons  respec- 
tively, set  apart  by  the  association  for  promoting  the  use  of  its 
several  departments,  and  available  also  for  educational  meetings  of 
any  kind, — in  the  same  building. 

(7)  A  Museum  of  Natural  History,  the  result  of  several  years 
of  careful  collection  and  selection  of  material,  and  growing  rapidly, 
—  now  in  the  Art  Museum,  but  soon  to  be  installed  in  the  new 
Science  Building,  which  is  to  be  completed  within  a  few  months. 

(8)  The  Catherine  L.  Howard  Library  of  Science,  founded 
and  to  be  maintained  by  those  who  were  formerly  pupils  in  the 
Howard  School,  —  now  being  purchased  and  to  be  placed  in  a 
special  room  in  the  same  building. 

(9)  An  Archseological  Room  and  a  Class  Room, — in  the 
same  building. 

(10)  A  Collection  of  Portraits,  thirty-five  in  number,  of  nota- 
ble citizens  of  Springfield,  most  of  whom  have  been  or  still  are 
connected  with  the  library,  —  in  the  William  Rice  Building  and 
the  Art  Museum. 


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The  Library  Training  Class. 


35 


III. 

While  it  is  true  that  the-  compensation  for  library  work  is  still 
low,  relatively,  for  example,  to  teaching,  it  is  also  true  that  with 
the  rising  standard  of  the  profession  there  goes  a  steady  and 
deserved  increase  in  wages.  It  has  come  to  be  commonly  under- 
stood that  properly  to  conduct  a  library  or  to  work  in  one  to  good 
purpose  calls  for  careful  preparation.  The  position  of  librarian 
and  of  library  assistant  is  steadily  gaining  in  dignity  and  in  popular 
esteem.  Moreover,  the  openings  for  trained  library  workers  at  a 
reasonable  salary  are  increasing  in  number.  Many  communities 
each  year  add  to  their  educational  equipment  a  public  library. 
Librarianship  is  looked  forward  to  by  an  increasing  number,  espe- 
cially of  women,  as  a  profession  offering  a  fair  chance  for  remuner- 
ative positions.  This  fact  alone  would  perhaps  account  for  the 
large  number  of  applications  for  admission  which  library  training- 
classes  such  as  this  library  proposes  to  open,  have  always  received. 
There  are  other  reasons  for  the  popularity  of  the  library -training- 
class.  These  are,  —  to  mention  only  two  —  the  attractiveness  of 
the  work  to  those  who  are  at  all  interested  in  printed  things,  and 
the  opportunity  it  offers  for  adding  to  one's  equipment  for  life,  — 
to  one's  general  education.  "  Literary  "  study,  as  it  is  commonly 
understood,  has  little  place  in  the  library  assistant's  round  of 
duties  ;  but  the  acquaintance  with  library  work  which  may  be 
gained  even  in  a  few  months,  gives  one  a  better  knowledge  of 
books  as  tools  and  of  how  to  use  them  to  good  advantage,  than  a 
college  course  often  gives. 

Considerations  like  the  above  have  led  the  Springfield  City 
Library  Association  to  think  it  entirely  proper  to  ask  of  a  group  of 
young  women  that  they  give  nine  months  of  time  to  work  in  the 
library  in  return  for  what  they  will  gain  from  it. 

The  Association  cannot  promise  that  it  will  hereafter  add  to  its 
staff  any  members  of  the  class.  But  it  is  quite  evident  that  addi- 
tions will  be  made  to  the  working  force  of  the  library  ;  and  it  is  to 
be  supposed  that  the  new  members  will  be  taken  from  graduates 
of  the  training-class.  A  chief  purpose  of  the  training  class  is,  in 
fact,  to  prepare  persons  for  effective  work  in  this  library. 

THE  CITY  LIBRARY  ASSOCIATION. 

J.  C.  Dana,  Librarian. 
Nov.  I,  1898. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcliive 
in  2015 


littps://arcliive.org/details/miscellaneousmatOOspri 


S  T  b  9  %J         THE  City  Library,  Springfield,  Massachusetts. 

S    "7^  ^  Oct  , 25,  1901. 

•  Lihrary  Training  Glass  for  1901-02. 

The  City  Library  will  open  another  training  class 
ab3t::t  Hoy.  IStn.    An  examination  o-f  applicants  for  this  class 
will  be  held  in  the  library  on  V/ednesaay  the  6th  of  Norember. 
from  10  to  12  and  from  Zto  'b.    This  examination  will  be 
written.    It  will  be  general  in  its  nature  and  designed  to  test 
the-  good  sense  and  general  efficiency  of  the  applicants. 

Out  of  all  applicants  four  or  five  of  these  best  fitted 
for  library  work  v/ili  be  selected.    The  written  examination  will 
fom  only-  a  part  of  the  basis  of  selection.    Much  \7eigl1t  will  be 
laid  on  nealth,  school  or  college  education,  previous  experience 
in  business  or  in  teaching,  personality,  and  recommendations. 

Applicants  will  be  asked  to  agree,  if  selected,  to  work, 
without  pay  for  10  months  in  the  City  Librar^^  of  Springfield, 
from  about  Ibv.l5.  '01  to  September  IS,  '02,  exclusive  of  on© 
manth's  vacation  io  be  taken  between  June  1    and  August  51. 
17i:at  is,  the  term  of  service  will  be  11  m.onths    with  10  months 
cf  actual  %iork.    One  of  the  requirements  will  be  evening 
service  on  an  average  of  two  evenings  a  v/eek. 

The  librar/    on  its  part,  agrees  to  give  the  miembers  of 
tne  class  an  opportunity _ to  familiarize  themselves  v/ith  the 

done 


^ne  larger  part  of  it  will  be  practical  v/ork  in  the  library. 
During  the  10  months  of  service,  there  will  be  held  at  least 
three  exaj-ninations ,  covering  the  ground  already  gone  over.  On 
ohe  results  oi  these  examinations,  as  well  as  on  the  general 
litn^os  foi  vrark  sho\m  by  members  of  the  class  durinc<  their 


the  members  of  its  training  classes.    It  simply  says  that  as 
vacancies  arise  first  choice,  under  proper  conditions,  will  be  • 
gi^en  to^ those  who  have  served  an  apprenticeship  in  the  library. 
1^^®  lii^rarv  is  better  equipped  than  ever  before  to  give 
ii^^^^^  science  and'^to  serve  as  a  field  for"bhe 
1^'  -rLf.  ..S  l^^^^^y       actual  operation.    The  requirements  of  the 
ixbrary  profession  are  more  exacting  every  year!    Every  year 
h^l  J       ^'"^  increasing  demand  from  Yibraries  for  persons  of 
't^l^.S^^S''?^  education,  good  sense,  and  an  all  'round 
experience  m  Library  practice. 

n-n-nliP«!!?c''^;^5't^^-"^'^?  -'^^^  ""^^^  previous  education  of 

^^-valent  of  a 

to  take'i^l-S^fnlt'ion'  "''''^  '^'^^'^       ^^^^^  '^^''^^^''^ 


The  City  Library . 


I 
I 


